Carbon May Rise to $400 a Ton Unless Spending Surges, OECD Says

Carbon permits will rise more than 18-fold to $400 a metric ton by 2050 unless spending on new technologies that curb emissions is increased, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast.

Carbon prices may be held to about $200 a ton if there’s more spending on developing technology such as hydrogen fuel- cell vehicles over the next decade, Romain Duval, a senior OECD economist, said last week in an interview in Poznan, Poland.

“The big difference is you assume major new technologies penetrate the non-electric sector,” Duval said.

About 190 nations are seeking an agreement next year to curb greenhouse gases starting 2013 and replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. A focus on transport emissions will be important as nuclear power and carbon capture and storage facilities may cut electricity-related emissions, according to the OECD.

Such an effort may over the next two decades cut costs of limiting emissions to less ...